uTopianTurtleTop

Elihu Vedder, Memory, 1870

And then, late in the second act, Labelle began an aria ("Regard, O son, my flowing tears") that went through me like light through glass. The spun-silver phrases, the soft tides and surges of the orchestra, one exquisitely wrenching interval all poured in, weightless and shining. It went on and on, and was over before it started. "The unconscious is the ocean of the unsayable," the writer Italo Calvino once remarked. I was out there, afloat. That's all I can really tell you about what happened that night. -- Steven Winn, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, “What happens to us when art connects to the unconscious,” via ArtsJournal.

Alex Ross made a list of favorite film scores, inspired by a question that Terry Teachout posted: “Is there any classic Hollywood comedy from the golden age with a great or even near-great musical score? In fact, is there any Hollywood comedy from any age with such a score?”

My first thought is -- Mendelssohn. A Midsummer Night's Dream. Erich Wolfgang Korngold

Psycho – Herrmann
I know Vertigo is supposed to be the masterpiece, but I prefer Psycho. He beautifully delineates the two distinct narrative halves.

Halloween – John Carpenter
Auteur +; add composer (honorable mention: Assault on Precinct Thirteen)

Bullitt – Lalo Shifrin

Touch of Evil -- Mancini
Yes, it is comedy. “You don’t look like Mexican”

The Wrong Man – Herrmann

Star Wars (original 3) – Williams
I like this more and more. 12/8, baby.

Southern Comfort – Ry Cooder
Just for the opening, when the creapy, hissy woof-woof sound effect reveals itself to be the cranked amp tremolo before the guitar comes in.

Conrack – Williams

Once Upon A Time In The West – Morricone
The harmonica riff so prominently figured in the story and spot on. Notable for the perfectly placed silences. All the sound is crazy overdubbed and very much part of the “music.”

Picked up the Best of Eric Carmen CD at Malcolm's school's flea
market. "All By Myself," based on Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, is
really a good song. The rest I am taking in, trying to listen past
the the production.

In the liner notes, David Wild, ID'd as Music Editor for Rolling   Stone,
in a one sentence prologue to his track by track analysis
entitled "Eric Carmen: A Fan's Notes," begins, "Ladies and
gentlemen, pop is not a dirty word." It's dated 1988.

The last couple of days, songs of mine have been going through my head, one from a few years ago, and one from 1990 or '91, from my last year in Chicago. And then I heard "Tangled Up in Blue" in a cafe yesterday, and was put in my place! Not in a bad way -- I may never write a song as good as "Tangled," but few do. Or, rather, lots of songs may be as good in their way, but "Tangled" is unique in its lyrical breadth.

Went home and put on the only Dylan that I have on disc, Self-Portrait, my favorite Dylan album, easily. Maybe no masterpiece songs, like on his mid-60s and mid-70s peaks, but no super-annoying songs either, and great performances, and great covers, and I love the bad-assed-ness of the conceit, that Bob at his most-obviously masked, switching masks from song to song, his two styles duetting with each other on a single song (country crooner Bob duetting with folky raspy Bob on a fantastic cover of "The Boxer") -- that the Self Portrait is a collection of masks that don't fit together. The only album that remotely reminds me of it is The Great Rock-n-Roll Swindle.

Songs. I LOVE SONGS. I want to shout it out. I LOVE SONGS. Like the Psalms say, Make a Joyful Noise.

Dylan's presence looms large in the 40th anniversary issue of Rolling Stone, getting an interview from The Man himself, founder and publisher Jann Wenner. And it's a great interview -- hilarious to see Wenner vainly trying to match wits with Dylan, and being arrogant and famous enough to call bullshit on Dylan when Dylan's being evasive, only he isn't nearly quick enough -- and who would be? -- to trap the master evader.

Bob, come on.

No, you come on.

What can I do to get you to take this seriously?

I'm taking it seriously.

You're not.

Of course I am. You're the one who's here to be celebrated. Forty years . . . forty years with a magazine that obviously now has intellectual recognition. Did you ever think that would happen when you started?

I was taking it seriously.

Look how far you've come. You're the one to be interviewed. I want to know just as much from you as you want to know from me.

What do you think of Neil Young?

Neil is very sincere, if nothing else. He's sincere, and he's got a God-given talent, with that voice of his, and the melodic strain that runs through absolutely everything he does. He could be at his most thrashy, but it's still going to be elevated by some melody. Neil's the only one who does that. There's nobody in his category.

Tell me about George Harrison.

George got stuck with being the Beatle that had to fight to get songs on records because of Lennon and McCartney. Well, who wouldn't get stuck? If George had had his own group and was writing his own songs back then, he'd have been probably just as big as anybody. George had an uncanny ability to just play chords that didn't seem to be connected in any kind of way and come up with a melody and a song. I don't know anybody else who could do that, either. . . .

What was your relationship with John Lennon like? Somewhat competitive?

Yeah. Only to a certain extent, but not really. Him and McCartney both, really, they were fantastic singers. Lennon, to this day, it's hard to find a better singer than Lennon was, or than McCartney was and still is. I'm in awe of McCartney. He's about the only one that I am in awe of. He can do it all. And he's never let up. He's got the gift for melody, he's got the rhythm, he can play any instrument. He can scream and shout as good as anybody, and he can sing a ballad as good as anybody. And his melodies are effortless, that's what you have to be in awe of. . . . [Ellipses in original.] He's just so damn effortless. I just wish he'd quit [laughs]. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just framed in melody.

I don’t remember who asked the question -- it may have been Ann Powers -- but regardless of who asked it, it’s interesting.

What songs do you know that you have never heard recorded?

I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
They fly so high,
Nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams,
They fade and die.
Fortune's always hiding ;
I've looked everywhere.
I'm forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.

Today I saw a photo of a local political heavyweight from 35 years ago, when he led a takeover of City Hall, bearded, blue-jeaned, and wearing a bandana folded into a headband, looking like a tough hippie. In the photo of the victory celebration, he is standing with one fist raised. On his other raised hand sits a 2- or 3-year-old girl with her fist raised. Presumably she’s in her late 30s now, whoever she is. And the political chief wears suits and meets with governors and mayors and cabinet secretaries.

“It seems like it all happened only yesterday.”